Somewhere Along, It Gets Easier
by Pirate in Pearls
Summary: How Nathan felt coming home after playing ball with Lucas. Takes place after Unopened Letters to the World. My first OTH fic. Please read and review!


Somewhere along, it gets easier

I just got season two on DVD for Christmas, and I was watching _Unopened Letters to the World_. I was inspired (for some reason or another) to write a story based on the episode. This is basically Nathan's feelings after he came home from playing ball at the River Court with Lucas. Bear with me, this is my first One Tree Hill fic.

**If I love her, and she loves me, what's left to figure out?**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own One Tree Hill. Although I wouldn't mind owning Nathan….

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Nathan walked up to the door of his apartment smiling. This had been a pretty crappy night, but he needed it. It was the perfect thing to snap him out of whatever funk he had gotten himself into lately. "Next time, I'm gonna beat you. You got lucky tonight. I figured you needed a win to cheer you up!" a voice yelled at him over his shoulder. His older brother, Lucas, was standing next to the new car their father had gotten Lucas. Well, actually, Nathan was emancipated, so he was really only Lucas's father now. "Yeah, okay. Just be sure you don't use up what's left of your game before next season. Well, if you have any game anyway" Nathan shouted back to him. Lucas smiled. "See ya, little bro" he said before getting in the car and driving away. Nathan pulled the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. All he wanted to do now was take a shower and play a couple of games of NBA Live. He flicked on the light. And that's when he saw it. And all his emotions came rushing back.

He kicked the door shut, feeling angry at himself for not taking the painting down and shoving it into a wood chipper. Then at least he wouldn't have to look at it. It wasn't that it was a bad painting, actually. The girl in it was beautiful, and happy. The problem with it was that it was a painting of his wife, Haley, who had run away to join a tour and bed down with a creep of a musician. Nathan instinctively walked over to the fridge and yanked it open. "Dammit" he muttered. That was right. He was out of alcohol. That was why he went to Brooke's party. To get drunk and forget about Haley. Now he had to face the painting sober.

Nathan stood in front of the painting and stared at it. He could barely see her face, now that it (and most of the surrounding wall) was painted pink and he had hung a painting of a really freaky looking clown over it. But he could still see her eye that stared at him, and challenged him to be a better person. And he smile, that teased him and congratulated him, and made him feel that there was at least one person in this f'd- up world that made him feel special. And her hair, that smelled like that sweet shampoo she always used and he used to brush out of her eyes for her. He reached for his phone in his pocket and held it in his hand, debating whether or not to call her. His mind flashed back to what Lucas had said to him earlier. _"Haley fell for you when you were a different person. A lesser person." _That was true. He was a jerk when they first got together. He had no idea what it was that made her fall for him, but she did. And he loved her even more for seeing, not the person he was, but the person he could become. He shrugged and dialed her number.

_Hey. You've reached Haley James Scott. I can't get to my phone at the moment, so leave a message, and I'll try and get back to you. Bye! _beep Nathan hung up then. Her voicemail? He got her voicemail? She couldn't even pick up her damn phone for her HUSBAND? He chucked the phone against the wall so it hit the painting and bounced off. God, he needed a drink. He may have lied to Lucas in the beginning about getting her voicemail, but this time, he really did. And it hurt him worse that he could imagine. He could still see her smiling at him. So, he picked up the nearest thing, which happened to be his keys, and chucked it at her. She didn't stop smiling. He grabbed an empty water bottle and chucked that. She still smiled. He threw a can of soda at her, but she never stopped smiling. He threw everything he could at her, growing more and more frustrated with every throw. After he broke his video game controller in half, and she still kept smiling, he broke down.

He sunk to the floor, back against the front door and cried. Which is not something Nathan would normally do. He was not the type to cry. But Haley was everything to him. She was more to him than his brother, and his mother, and sure as hell his father. When he took amphetamines, the only person he wanted to see was Haley. He gave up his dream of going to High Flyers for her. And she left him. She was the last good thing he had in this world, and she left. How could she choose the tour over him? She said she had to figure some stuff out. _But, if I love her, and she loves me, what's left to figure out? _The words he spoke to Lucas earlier rang in his head. Maybe she didn't love him after all. Nathan looked up at the painting, and his heart broke all over again. Maybe she didn't love him. This thought was what hurt the most. Maybe she didn't love him. Nathan took one last look at the painting, and with that last thought, started crying again.

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What do you think? It's my first One Tree Hill fic, since I usually write Harry Potter stuff, but I figured I'd give it a try. I adore reviews, and I take any kind of feedback. If you hated it, tell me so. If you loved it, tell me. If you think I should never write another story as long as I live, tell me. Just click the little button and tell me what you think. 


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